


Just B♮

by Jules1398



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music Store, Guitars, M/M, side joneva, side noorvilde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 03:17:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13778514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jules1398/pseuds/Jules1398
Summary: Isak knows nothing about guitars and somehow he finds himself working in a store that sells them. Well, at least there's the hot guy that always comes in and plays while he's on shift.





	Just B♮

**Author's Note:**

> [come say hi!](http://crackandcanonships.tumblr.com/)

Eskild was a great roommate and an even better manager. Isak had fallen short on rent a few months in a row, and Eskild had managed get him a job at the guitar store in which he was a supervisor. It was a pretty chill job and it paid well, but there was one big problem: Isak didn’t know anything about guitars.

Due to his training and work at the store, he knew some of the basics, like which strings were on a guitar in which order and what a chord was but, beyond that, he was clueless. It probably wasn’t going to be very long before Eskild told him to seek other employment. After all, what good was an employee without any knowledge of the goods they were supposed to be selling.

On a Monday evening, after school, Isak found himself in charge of the acoustic room, as he typically was when Vilde was working, as she preferred to be at the register. Luckily, Eva had decided to stop by and keep him company before she went to dinner with Jonas.

She pointed to a plain tan guitar. “Is this the one that Jonas plays?” she asked. “It kind of looks similar.”

He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Aren’t you a professional now?” Eva teased. “I thought you were supposed to know this. After all you’ve been working here for how long? Like four months?”

“Five,” Isak clarified in a solemn tone. “I haven’t got a clue what makes one guitar better than another or why some are different.”

Eva hummed before taking a random guitar off the rack and loudly strumming it. It was out of tune and all the strings at once probably didn’t make a very good chord. At least Eva was just as clueless as he was.

He plucked it from her arms. “Whoah there, I need to be selling people the product, not driving the customers away from it.”

She made a stink face and crossed her arms. “You’re a fucking dick.”

“You love me, don’t lie,” he replied with a wink.

Eva rolled her eyes. “You offer lessons, don’t you? We should sign up together. Use that employee discount of yours.”

He lightly smacked her. “Hey! Don’t exploit my career. Your boyfriend can teach you guitar.”

Then, the tall boy with the sky blue eyes walked into the room, wearing a jean jacket. Isak had seen him before. He always came in and played the guitars in the acoustic room, but he never bought anything. Isak didn’t blame him. Guitars were fucking expensive.

“Who the hell is that?” Eva whispered to Isak.

“I wish I fucking knew,” Isak replied honestly.

“He’s so-” Eva started.

“Hot. I know,” Isak filled in as she said “tall.”

She smirked. “Someone has a little crush, huh?”

He shoved her. “Just wait until you hear him play. He’s even better than Jonas.”

And, as if on cue, the boy started strumming a song on the guitar. It was something that Isak had heard before, an older song, but he wasn’t quite able to place exactly what it was. And it sounded amazing. It was better than anything he had ever heard before by tenfold.

“Don’t tell Jonas,” Eva began. “But you’re right. He is better. You should talk to him. Maybe you can get his number and he can give you a  _ private concert _ .”

He smacked her arm, probably a little harder than he had intended to, as she winced a little. “I thought you had to go to dinner with your boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I’m leaving,” she replied with a roll of her eyes before waving to him and walking out. He waved back.

“Excuse me, Isak,” said a deep voice from beside him. Isak nearly jumped to see the tall boy standing right beside him.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “You know my name?”

The boy laughed and, god, it was probably the best sound that Isak had ever heard in his life. “It says it here,” he replied before flicking Isak’s nametag.

His face flushed red and he scratched the back of his head. “I guess I kind of forgot we had nametags.”

“I was just wondering if I could borrow a pick? I seem to have forgotten mine at home,” he requested.

“Yeah here you go,” Isak replied as he rummaged through one of the drawers and pulled out a black guitar pick.

“Even,” the boy said.

Isak blinked. “Huh?”

“My name,” the boy chuckled. “It’s Even.”

Even went back and continued to play the guitar and Isak continued to swoon. He was attractive and talented so, basically, Isak was hopeless.

* * *

It seemed that, nearly every single time that Isak was in the acoustic room, Even would come in to play the guitars. Normally Isak wouldn’t be so upset, but he found himself unable to talk to the boy, so he silently pined for someone that was completely out of his reach.

Occasionally, Even would come by and speak with him for a little bit, but it was usually just to get help reaching something or to borrow something. So basically, he was just asking Isak to do his job.

Once, on a particularly busy Saturday, Isak and Vilde were working in the  acoustic room together and Even came in.

“I don’t get why this guy comes so often if he never buys anything,” Vilde complained. “Like, this is a place of business. Stop coming if you’re just gonna glance at stuff.”

Isak shrugged. “I like it when he comes. He’s a very talented musician.”

She looked at him strangely. “Have you heard him play before?”

“Well, yeah,” he replied. “He comes here and plays the guitars like every time that I’m in here.”

“Hmmm,” Vilde hummed. “That’s weird. Usually when I’m in here, he just takes a quick glance at the more expensive instruments and then he leaves.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like you,” Isak teased.

He glanced up to see Even coming their way. “Hi, Isak,” he greeted.

“Hey Even,” Isak responded. “What do you need?”

“A capo, if you have one,” he requested.

Isak didn’t want to admit that he still didn’t know what a capo was, so he turned to Vilde. “Could you grab one for me?”

She smiled and dug through the drawer. “Here you are, sir,” she said. “Be sure to return it when you’re done. If you’d like to purchase one, you can find them by the register.”

“Thank you,” he said with a smile, but he was looking more at Isak than at Vilde.

After he had returned to a guitar and started playing again, Vilde nudged Isak. “I don’t think that he doesn’t like me, per se. I think that he might like you, Isak.”

Isak leaned on the counter and stared at Even. “I wish,” he mumbled. “But he’s far too hot for me.”

She snorted. “He’s not  _ that _ attractive.”

“You’re a lesbian,” he pointed out. “I’m the one who’s in charge of determining which guys are attractive and which guys aren’t.”

“I have eyes,” she argued. “Sure, he’s cute, but I think you’re being a little bit dramatic. If you want him, then you need to get off your ass and get that boy.”

“Easy for you to say. You have Noora,” he retorted

She shrugged. “Fine, don’t take my advice. I’m right, though,” Vilde said before strutting across the room to speak with customers.

Isak barely knew anything about Even beyond his name, but he was already fucking gone for him.

* * *

After that encounter, Vilde pulled some strings and did some digging into Even. It was pretty impressive, but still pretty fucking weird. Apparently he was repeating his third year at Bakka because of some mental health issue. Also, he allegedly had a girlfriend who graduated the year prior. So, yeah, now Isak had some pretty good reason to be hopeless.

It was a Thursday night and the only people in the acoustic room were Isak and Even. He hadn’t needed to borrow anything this time, so they had barely interacting beyond greeting one another.

While Even was between songs, Isak took a deep breath and spoke. “Even, I have a question for you.”

“Hmmm?” Even looked up from the guitar and the sight of his blue eyes made Isak feel like he was being attacked.

“When did you learn how to play?” he inquired.

Even thought for a moment before responding. “I think I was eight when I started,” he answered. “My mom taught me, since she used to be in a band when she was in university.”

“That’s pretty cool,” he said with a nod. “In all honesty, I don’t know how to play. My best friend tried to teach me once, but it didn’t go well.”

Even let out a throaty laugh. “Well, how did you end up with this job, then?”

“I needed money for my rent and the manager is my roommate,” Isak explained.

As if on cue, Eskild burst into the room. “Isak, I need you to go to the register. Vilde has gone home sick.”

Isak sighed. “Well I guess this is goodbye, Even,” he said regretfully.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon,” Even replied with a wink. Isak’s heart fluttered just a little bit.

If Even didn’t have a girlfriend, then maybe Isak actually would have had a chance at winning his heart.

* * *

“I want to quit,” Isak confessed to Jonas near the end of his shift one day. The room was completely abandoned save for the two of them, so there was no risk of Eskild finding out about what Isak said.

“You need the money, Isak. Don’t be ridiculous,” replied Jonas, who was always the more reasonable one in their friendship.

“He comes in  _ every single day _ ,” Isak complained. “And he’s so fucking hot and talented and completely off-limits.”

“Are you positive he has a girlfriend?” Jonas inquired. “Because, from what you told me, he seems like a nice guy, and nice guys don’t fuck around on the person that they’re dating.”

“We’re not fucking around,” Isak sighed.

“Bro,” the curly-haired boy said, putting a hand upon Isak’s shoulder. “Even is flirting with you.”

Isak shoved Jonas’ arm away. “You don’t even know what he looks like.”

Then the door opened and they both turned at the sound. Sure enough, it was Even himself, strutting into the room and looking better than ever. He grinned and waved at Isak, who immediately waved back. God, he probably seemed fucking desperate.

Even went to his usual section of guitars and picked one off of the rack and started playing it, as beautiful as always.

“Isn’t he amazing?” Isak asked his best friend wistfully.

Jonas snorted. “Isak, he’s playing a Martin in a room that was specifically built for guitars. Of course he sounds amazing.”

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusing. If Even sounded good it was due to his talent, not the kind of guitar he was playing. “What does the brand have to do with anything?”

Jonas stared at him for a second before slowly speaking, “You don’t know what a Martin is and you work in a guitar store?”

Isak shook his head. “Jonas, you know that I suck at this job.”

“Okay,” he said, lightly hitting his palms on the counter, which meant that he was going to probably tell Isak something basic in an unnecessary amount of words. “So Martin & Company is a guitar manufacturer that operates out of the Northeastern United States. Their guitars are known for being particularly amazing. For example, Elvis Presley once played on a Martin. So, basically, they are some of the nicest guitars out there and would make anyone sound better than they are. I’m not saying that Even here is  _ untalented _ , it just seems to me that he’s probably a pretty average player.”

Isak crossed his arms over his chest. “Screw you. I think he’s amazing.”

“Who’s amazing?” asked Even from right beside them, causing a blush to spread across Isak’s face.

“You are. At guitar,” he clarified, feeling a bit embarrassed. He should have come up with a lie instead of telling him the truth.

Even chuckled. “Well, to be fair, I  _ am  _ playing a Martin.”

Jonas gesticulated toward Even, since he had just proved his point.

Isak glared at his friend. “Jonas, Eva told me she wanted you to call her right around this time. Maybe you should go outside and do that.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said with a smirk before walking out of the room and through the store.

Isak turned back toward Even. “Sorry about him. He thinks that he’s the shit when it comes to guitar. He’s probably just jealous.”

“I mean, I’ve probably improved since I first came here, but I know I’m not that great,” Even laughed. “Imagine that. I came to some store because my ex had my capo at her house when we broke up and I ended up coming back three times a week to impress some hot blond employee.”

“Vilde has a girlfriend,” Isak replied apologetically.

Even raised an eyebrow. “No, Isak. I came here to impress  _ you _ .”

“Me?” Isak asked in disbelief.

He shrugged. “You were cute and I figured you liked people who played guitar, but every time I tried to talk to you about them, you brushed me aside. I mean I figured, why would a guy who didn’t play guitar work at a guitar store if he wasn’t interested in them in some other way?”

“I know nothing about guitars,” Isak admitted. “I needed to make money, and that’s it.”

“Well I, for one, am certainly happy that you got this job,” Even said with a wink, leaning forward on the counter.

“I am too,” Isak breathed. “But only because of you.”

“Are you doing anything tonight?” Even asked.

Isak thought about his plans to get kebab with Jonas and the boys before shaking his head. “I’m completely free after I get off in fifteen minutes.”

Even smiled. “It’s a date,” he said before venturing back to the guitar and playing it some more, as he had time to kill.

Isak typed out a quick message to Jonas telling him to leave without him before putting his phone down and smiling. Sure, Isak knew nothing about guitars, but maybe he was going to be able to learn.


End file.
